Annunciator.



E. J. BRANDT.

' ANNUNoIAToR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 8 s SHEETS-snm 1.

i I l 2 I I l I I I I I I s I I l I I I l i I I '1m Patented Jan. 12,1909.

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E. J. BRANDT.

ANNUNGIATOR.

APILIoATIoN rILED JULY s, 1904.

Patented Jan. 12,1909.r

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E. J. BRANDT.

ANNmsmnmon.A APPLIOATION FILED JULY 9, 1904.

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

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EDWARD J. BRANDT, OF WATERTOWN, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO BRANDT OASHIER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

i ANNUNCIATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 12, 1909.

Application filed. July 9, 1904;. Serial No. 215,929.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BRANDT, a. citizen of the United States, residing at Watertown, in the county of Jefferson and State of lVisconsin, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Annunciators, of which the following is a specification.

rFhis invention relates to an annunciator, and more particularly to a device of the class or type which is intended to be hung upon a wall or other support, and to display prominently matters of information, such as the month, the day of the month and the day ot' the week, the arrival or departure of trains, or matters of advertisement, such as the character and price of merchandise.

A leading feature or object of the invention is tomake a device of this type of such materials and in such form as to insure its permanency and since it is adjustable so as to be capable of continued use, it is desirable that the materials of which it is composed and the construction and arrangement of its parts shall be such as to make it practically indestructible from use.

I have shown my invention embodied in a perpetual calendar'.

To the ends above mentioned I preferably provide a metal frame adapted to be secured to a wall or other fixed support, and when used as a calendar this frame is provided preferably in its upper portion with a plate having sight openings beneath which the day of the week and the month may be made to appear, and below such plate I preferably provide two sets of movable tablets, one of the series or sets having units numbers and the other tens numbers thereon; said sets of tablets being preferably arranged side by side and in convenient proximity to the sight openings through which the day of the week and the month are read. These tablets are supported preferably so as to hang pendent and are mounted in suitable guide ways and are adapted to be adjusted by moving the tablet which is exposed upwardly along its guideways and allowing it to drop behind the stack or series of tablets of its set, thus bringing to view the next `underlying tablet and changing the indication or date. The indications for the month are conveniently arranged on an annular band movable step by step to bring the indications of the months successively in view behind the appropriate sight opening, while the days of the week, having a common tinal syllable, viz., day may be prominently displayed in one portion of the sight opening of the plate, and the preixes for the various days of the week are imprinted or otherwise indicated upon a rotatable disk, by the rotation of which such prefixes are made to appear in proper relation to the permanent syllable to indicate the days of the week successively.

The leading feature of the invention may be said to be the provision of tablets so supported as to be adjusted or changed with unerring certainty, and to provide against the possibility of displaying the wrong tablet in a single actuation; and this I accomplish by so mounting the tablets that only the rst one of the series can be moved at a single actuation, and when moved it returns automatically to the proper position behind the other tablets of its series preferably vby gravity and without the necessity for personal supervision or attention.

My invention, in the specified embodiment, is illustrated in the accompanying` drawings, in which- Figure l is a face view of the calendar as it appears in use; Fig. 2 is a similar view with the front plate removed; Fig. 3 is a central vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional elevation on the line H of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional elevation on the line 5 5 of Fig. l; Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 ot' Fig. l; Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation on the line 7 7 of Fig. l, showing one of the tablets in the returning guideway; Figs. 8 and 9 are face views of two of the tablets; Fig. l0 is a cross-section on the line 10-10 of Fig. 8; Figs. l1, l2 and 13 are sectional views on corresponding lines in Figs. 8 and 9; and Fig. 14 is a detail view of the means for operating the disk carrying the indications of the several days of the week.

rIhe inclosing frame is composed of the parallel side-plates l5 and the central plate or rib 16, to the rear edges and ends of which is secured a backing-plate 17. rThe lower portions of the front edges of the side ribs 15 and the central rib 16 are preferably cut away so as not to obstruct the line of vision, while affording a practically unbroken or continuous surface when the tablets are hanging in proper relation. (See Figs. 2, 3 and 5.)

The days of the month are indicated upon two series of tablets which are suspended side by side in the lower portion of the casing. These tablets 18 are preferably composed of sheet metal of approximately rectangular form, and each provided in its upper margin or edge with a semi-circular notch 19 and with lateral lugs or ears 20 in the plane of the sheet. Two series of these tablets are preferably provided; one toy indicate units and the other to indicate tens, the units series being ten in number, from 0 to 9, and the tens series from 1 to 3, with one or more special tablets, 21, Fig. 8. By the proper arrangement of the individual tablets of the two series, the days of the month from 1 to 31 may be indicated, and the days of the month below 10 are preferably indicated in the units series, the tens series being covered by the special tablet, which may contain matter of information or advertisement, which is thus kept displayed intermittently for definite periods during each month. The tens series may therefore, have four tablets, marked 1, 2, 3, and one or more special tablets to be displayed daily through a portion of the month. Each of the series of tablets is hung in position for display by the engagement of its lateral ears or lugs 20 with the supports 22 secured to the sideplates 15 and the central rib 16, and the upper or supporting edges of these blocks 22 are preferably slightly curved as shown, in order to cause the several tablets of each series to hang compactly and to crowd the whole of the series to the front of thepanel and cause the front tablet to hang with its front surface approximately flush with the front edges of the side plates and central rib. Each of the sid-ey plates is provided on its inner surface and the central rib on both of its sides with ribs 23, 24, which constitute the outer walls of front and rear guideways, the inner walls thereof being formed by the guide strip 25, which. is shown as a separate strip secured tothe frame pieces and constituting with the integral ribs or side pieces the inner and outer guideways 26 and 27. rlhe upper end of the guide strip 25 is preferably beveled rearwardly as shown at 28, and the flat spring 29 is positioned so as to deflect or press back the upper end of each tablet as it is raised through the guideway 26, and cause the ears or supporting lugs of the tablet to engage the beveled surface 28 and thus slide readily into the rear guid-e 27. y It will be understood that only the ears or lugs are engaged within the guideways, the body of the tablet being free. This bei'ngrtrue, it is obvious that provision should be made for preventing these tablets from being moved'v except in single order, or from being stopped on their downward or return movement. Both of these objects are accomplished by providing the block 30 secured on the intermediate guide strip 25 near its lower end, the upper surface of the block being rearwardly beveled and its lower edge being of such width as to substantially cover all of the tablets of the series except the lirst.

It will be obvious that the first tablet of the series may be readily separated from the remainder of the tablets in which operation the lower edge of the tablet is engaged by the thumb or finger of one hand and the notch 19 may be engaged by a linger of the other hand, to start the lugs into the lower ends of the front guide-grooves, and the tablet is then moved upwardly along its guideways until its supporting lugs or ears pass over the upper end of the guide strip 25, said lugs or ears being thrown backward by the flat spring 29 or in any other convenient way, such as the conformation of the guides; and that when these lugs or ears pass over the apex of the strip 25 they will descend in-to the rear or return guideway and the tablet will fall in the proper position behind the others, leaving the new tablet with its indicating number exposed. In a similar manner the tens tablets are adjusted to indicate the day of the month. In this operation, therefore, is provided means whereby with the change of a single tablet daily for the greater part of the month the day is properly indicated.

Thev tablets may be of such size as to prominently display theY days of the month without making the entire structure of objectionable size, since it i-'s obviousy that the total length of the device needV only be slightly greater than twice the length of the tablet, and its greatest width only slightly greater than twice the width of such tablet-s. Thus, in a complete device having outside dimensions yof, say 9x12v inches the days of the month may be indicated in letters 5 inches high and at the same time afford room for displaying the month and the day of the week in a manner readily discernible.

lVhile the detailsof construction of the tablets may be varied', I prefer to make them of sheet-metal' of suliicient thickness to affordv the necessary rigidity to prevent bending of the tablet and to fold over rearwardly the edges of the tablet as indicated at 18a in Figs. 12 and 13. These folds notonly stien the edge of the sheet but prevent face Vcontact ofthe several tablets except at the margins, and thus prevent the ell-'ace ment of the numbers or other matter on the tablet. These side folds may also be so disposed as to afford a pocket, as seen i-n Fi-g. 10, for the purpose of inclosing a carol or changeable advertisement 21a, Fig. 8; the central portion ofthe body of the tablet being cut out in this instance to aord a sight opening or panel in which the card is thus framed. The notching of the upper edge of the tablet as at 19 affords room for the finger in manipulating the tablet to pass it over the intermediate tablets.

In the upper section of the calendar frame there is mounted suitable means for inclinating the months and the days of the week. The months are indicated in proper sequence on the face of the disk 31 and preferably near its periphery. This disk may have a sheet-metal backing with the months delineated by printing, enameling or otherwise. The edge of the disk is provided with a series of notches 3Q to be engaged by an operating dog 33 on the pivoted lever 34 extending through a slot in the side wall of the frame. This lever vibrates upon a pivot which affords a common axis for the disks indicating` both the months and the days of the week and of the operating mechanism therefor. rlhis pivot is shown in the form of a screw 36 which is tapped into the central rib 16. A stop-dog 37 is provided for preventing backward movement of the disk 31.

The days of the week are preferably indicated in the manner following: The front plate 38 has a sight opening 89 at the end of which is displayed the terminal syllable of the days of the week, as shown at 40. A disk 41 having the first syllable of each of the days of the week arranged concentric to its axis is mounted on the common pivot 36 and has means for turning it so as to bring each of these syllables in proper sequence in the position to read with the final syllable indicated at 40, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. rlhe means herein shown for operating this disk comprises a sector 42 of resilient sheet metal, the outer edge of which is notched, an integral hand-piece 43 and tooth 44, this latter engaging apertures 45 arranged concentric to the axis of the disk, these apertures being so spaced that the plate may be moved a suitable distance step by step by withdrawing the tooth from the aperture, the transverse resiliency of the sector-plate permitting such withdrawal The edge of the disk 41 is provided with locking notches 46 which are engaged by a locking` dog 47 on the pivoted arm '48, the end of the arm lying etween the edges of the disks 31 and 41 so as to insure the proper action of the dog.

The cover plate is provided with a curved slot 49 through which the end piece 43 of the operating sector projects, thus insuring that the movement will be uniform and the parts maintained in proper relation. rlt`his front plate is also provided with a suitable sight opening as at 50 for the display of the name of the month.

It is obvious also that while the general purpose of my device is to afford a practically indestructible perpetual calendar, the mechanical construction and the combination and arrangement of parts embodied tlf-.erein are capable of being employed for a wide variety of uses, and that all of the several parts are not necessarily conjointly used. For example, the series of tablets might be used separate and apart from the indications of the day of the week and the day of the month, or they might be so used in conjunction with other correlated information, and generally for the purposes of a calendar or changeable sign or bulletin. Furthermore, it is obvious that the specific details of construction of these calendars may be changed, as, for example, instead of two series of movable tablets a single series might be employed, the series running from 1 to l prefer the arrangement shown, because the device is thereby rendered much more compact, the total number of tablets necessary to be used for calendar purposes being 14 as against 31, while the size of each tablet, where two series are used, is only one-half of the size necessary where a single series is employed, and each tablet is also more rigid and more easily manipulated. More than two series of tablets may be employed, arranged side by side or one above the other, and these movable tablets are susceptible of many uses, such as for indicating the prices of articles, the time of arrival and departure of trains, for announcing the order of events and the like, and instead of the indications of the days of the week and of the month other matter of information may be displayed by means of the same or similar mechanism.

1 claim:

1. The combination with a narrow casing having formed in each of its side Walls a pair of vertical guide-grooves merging into each other at their upper ends, of transverse tablet-supports lying beneath and between each pair of guide-grooves, and a series of tablets having lateral lugs at their upper ends normally engaging said tablet-supports, whereby the front tablet of the series may be moved bodily over and to the rear of the series through sliding engagement of its lugs with said guide-grooves, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a narrow casing having formed in each of its side Walls a pair of guide-grooves parallel throughout the major part of their length and merging into each other at their upper ends, of transverse tablet-supports lying beneath and between each pair of guidegrooves, said tablet-supports having inclined upper surfaces, and series of tablets having lateral lugs at their upper ends normally engaging the upper surfaces of said tablet-supports, whereby the front tablet of the series may be `moved bodily over and to the rear of the pair of parallel guidegrooves merging intoV each other at their upper ends at an acute angle, of transverse tablet-supports lying beneath and between each pair of guidegrooves, a series of tablets having lateral lugs at their upper ends normally overlying said tablet-supports and adapted to slid ingly engage said guide-grooves, and a spring at the upper end of `the latt-er adapted to force a tablet when raised from the front into the rear guide-groove7 substantially as described.

t. The combination with a narrow casing having formed in each of its side walls front and rear parallel guidegrooves merging into each other at their upper ends at an acute angle, of transverse tablet-supports lying' beneath and between said front and lets having lateral lugs at their upper ends 30 normally resting upon said tablet-supports and adapted to slidingly engage said guidegrooves, and a spring at the upper end of the latter adapted to force a tablet when raised from the front into the rear guide- 35 groove, substantially as described.

EDWARD J. BRANDT.-

vWitnesses: v

C. C. LINTHICUM, M. H. MANDELBAUM. 

